• 1845 - General Order 40 transfers a 9-acre site from the War Department at Fort Severn, Annapolis, Md., to the Navy Department for use of its Naval School. Cmdr. Franklin Buchanan, who developed the curriculum of the proposed school pursuant to a letter from the Secretary of the Navy, Aug. 7, 1845, is named its first superintendent and assumes command Sept. 3, 1845. The school opens Oct. 10, 1845, and then is redesigned the U.S. Naval Academy and placed under the Bureau of Ordnance and Hydrography in 1850.
  • 1895 - The battleship USS Texas is commissioned. She is the first American steel-hulled battleship. USS Texas serves off Cuba during the Spanish-American War and takes part in the Battle of Santiago.
  • 1908 - The first Navy Post Offices are opened on board Navy ships following a June 27, 1908 General Order 74 establishing them.
  • 1944 - Operation Dragoon begins, which is the Allied invasion of Southern France. Western Naval Task Force, commanded by Vice Adm. Henry K. Hewitt, USN, lands the Allied force on the front between Toulon and Cannes.
  • 1953 - Adm. Arthur W. Radford becomes the first naval officer to be appointed as the Chairman, Joints Chief of Staff, serving two-terms until Aug. 15, 1957.
  • 1987 - USNS Comfort (T-AH 20) is christened and launched in San Diego as a Mercy-class hospital ship following conversion from a San Clemente-class supertanker. She is the third Navy ship named Comfort.
  • 1998 - USS Bonhomme Richard (LHD 6) is commissioned at Pensacola, Fla.
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